King Kong
King Kong is a giant ape who first appeared in the 1933 film simply titled "King Kong." He is the last of his species: a megaprimatus kong, apes that are about 25 ft. tall. The film concerns a filmmaker named Carl Denham, who will be fired from making films unless he produces a grand blockbuster, so he sets off to an uncharted island called Skull Island. He brings with him: A plucky down-on-her-luck actress named Ann Darrow, a fellow sailor named Jack Driscoll, and other crewmembers such as Lumpy, Hayes, Jimmy, and others. When they reach the island, Ann is captured by the natives of Skull Island, and is to be sacrificed by the god of the island: a giant ape called Kong. But instead of devouring her, Kong finds a curious interest in Ann and flees. The crew members rescue Ann and capture Kong. They sail back to New York, where the theater's main attraction is titled "Kong! The Eighth Wonder of the World!" and many people attend. Kong breaks free and searches New York City for Ann and eventually finds her. With Ann in his hand, Kong climbs up the Empire State Building, and puts Ann on a nearby cliff, while he hangs onto the tower and destroys planes, but is killed and falls down the building. Legacy King Kong was the most famous film of the '30s. The film used spectacular special effects, because the monsters were made by stop-motion, and sometimes they put the actors in the same screen, which was not easy to do. They did 10 frames an hour of monsters. Due to the major popularity of the film, an instant sequel was made, titled "Son of Kong", made the same year. It depicted Carl Denham returning to Skull Island, and finds Kong's son, which was half of Kong's size. Kong's son finds an interest in a woman that Carl brought with him. Soon, the island floods, Kong's son is killed, but the humans escape just in time. Son of Kong was not as popular as the original and wasn't as impressive. Through the '40s and '50s, King Kong was re-released numerous times, until Kong finally appears in a new film, King Kong vs. Godzilla, except this was very different from the original Kong. Willis O'Brien, the original creator of King Kong, suggested a film where Kong fights Frankenstein, but Toho, the studio, decided to change Frankenstein to Godzilla. Kong was put into a rubber suit like Godzilla, and Kong was also put up to Godzilla's size. This Kong also gets power from electricity. King Kong vs. Godzilla was so popular, they were originally going to make a sequel titled Continuation: King Kong vs. Godzilla, but was scrapped in favor of Mothra vs. Godzilla. Kong was originally going to take Godzilla's role in Godzilla vs. The Sea Monster (1966), but Toho decided that Godzilla would have more marquee value, but a year later, Toho made a film called King Kong Escapes (1967), where Kong fights a dinosaur called Gorosaurus, and a machine replica of himself called Mechani-Kong. Later, in 1976, King Kong was remade, but was very different from the original. Instead of a filmmaker traveling to Skull Island, an oil company discovers Kong, and instead of taking place in 1933, it takes place in modern times. It is also noted for having different characters, and instead of climbing the Empire State Building, Kong climbs up the World Trade Center. Despite the poor reviews from audiences, a sequel was made ten years later, titled King Kong Lives (1986), where it shows that Kong survived his fall, and is in need of a heart transplant, so the humans find Lady Kong, and try to replace her heart with his, but Kong breaks free, and fights the army. Kong is killed, but Lady Kong escapes safely, with a newborn Kong on an island. King Kong Lives received very poor reviews. But in 2005, King Kong was masterfully remade by Peter Jackson, which follows the original film. Recently, Peter Jackson announced a possible sequel to King Kong (2005) was being made, and released in 3-D. Category:Kaiju Category:Characters Category:Heroes